Which to use
“aired” and “asked” are a confusable English pair: similar on the page, but distinct in meaning, check the gloss before you choose.
- #8,886
- “aired” frequency rank
- #499
- “asked” frequency rank
- 9385
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | aired | asked |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | simple past and past participle of air | simple past and past participle of ask |
Where the eye mixes aired and asked
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 3 letters in sequence.
Visual trap between aired and asked
A purely visual mix-up. aired (/ɛəd/) and asked (/ˈɑːskt/) are said differently, so reading them aloud is the quickest way to catch the wrong one. On the page they stay close: they share most of their letters but differ in 2 positions. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 9385, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
aired is recorded at frequency rank #8,886, classified as averb, pronounced /ɛəd/. asked is at rank #499, tagged as averb, pronounced /ˈɑːskt/.
Glosses for this pair are partially populated in our dataset, but the full side-by-side definitions above should still guide you to the right choice.
With a confusion score of 9385, this pair ranks #497,659 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.
Orthographic DNA of aired vs asked
Shared letters: ade. Private to "aired": ir. Private to "asked": ks.
"aired" · 5 letters · shape VVCVC · "asked" · 5 letters · shape VCCVC
Known mistypes of this pair
Frequently Asked Questions
Is swapping "aired" for "asked" ever safe?
Frequency check: "aired" vs "asked" - which ranks higher?
Useful next steps
Visual near-miss handled. Browse the word pages or a neighbour when the next look-alike shows up.
- Full dictionary entry for "aired" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "asked" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #497,659 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "aired" and "asked" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "aced vs aired". Nearby pair
- Recorded mistypes exist for at least one side of this pair, useful when a spell-checker or OCR lands on the wrong form. See mistypes
Confusion rank #497,659 of 530,003 scored English pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.